Catastrophe Kitchen | Pumpkin Pie Bread

By Salongo Wendland

This Pumpkin Pie Bread is so good that when I asked my son if he’d like another piece, he said “I’ll take five.” It has all the pumpkin pie taste with none of the weird, gooey, pie-filling texture. And it’s transportable, shippable, and lunch-packable! It’s great for breakfast on the go or for savoring while you linger over coffee. Make it with chocolate chips for a sweet twist, or warm it with butter for a cozy treat.

And even better, this makes two loaves (or about six mini loaves), so you can keep one and gift one to your neighbor/friend/office/kid’s teacher! Or do what my family of two did, and eat both loaves in the space of two days. Shhhh, don’t think about the calories. We’re just padding ourselves for winter.

Here’s what you’ll need.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks (12 ounces) butter

1 C sugar

1 C brown sugar

1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

3 eggs

2 T eggnog (or milk)

2 1/2 C flour

2 t baking powder

1 t salt

Spices: 2 T cinnamon, 2 t ginger, 2 t nutmeg, 1 t mace, 1/2 t cloves

Baking Spray

Optional: one package mini chocolate chips

Pre-heat your oven to 375°.

Melt the butter in a microwave-proof bowl and pour it into a large bowl with the sugars. Add the pumpkin and eggs and whisk it together.

Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add them to the wet ones and stir to combine. I had to do the opposite because I used my big bowl for the flour. It didn’t seem to make much difference, but I think it’s easier to add dry to wet.

If you want to add chocolate chips (or nuts or whatever), now is the time! I did one plain and one with chips because my son didn’t want chocolate chips, then had no problem at all eating the chocolate chip one once it was made (of course). Spray your pans and divide the batter between the two pans (or 5-6 mini loaf pans).

Put them on the middle rack in your oven and forget about them for about 55 minutes (or 30 minutes for mini loaves). I divided my loaves totally unevenly (because chocolate), so the smaller one was ready around 60 minutes and the other one I forgot about and took out around 75 minutes and it was DARK brown. Not burnt! But close. Still perfect inside and delicious.

If you’re not sure they’re done, poke them in the center with a toothpick or skewer. I could find neither so I used a fondue fork (not recommended but OK if you don’t really care about putting a hole in the top). If you get batter on your poker, put it back. If the poker comes out with crumbs, it’s ready!!

Let it cool in the pan about five minutes, then run a knife around it (it should have pulled away a touch from the pan) and invert it onto your oven-mitted hand, then onto a cooling rack. It needs a good 5-10 minutes more cooling time to make sure you don’t burn your face off.

Eat it plain or slather on the butter.

This is fall in a bread, people. A PSL without the L. A HUG FOR YOUR MOUTH!! And it makes your house smell amazing.